A low-noise differential microphone inspired by the ears of the parasitoid fly Ormia ochracea

A miniature differential microphone is described having a low-noise floor. The sensitivity of a differential microphone suffers as the distance between the two pressure sensing locations decreases, resulting in an increase in the input sound pressure-referred noise floor. In the microphone described...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2009-04, Vol.125 (4), p.2013-2026
Main Authors: MILES, R. N, SU, Q, CUI, W, SHETYE, M, DEGERTEKIN, F. L, BICEN, B, GARCIA, C, JONES, S, HALL, N
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Animal ethology
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Diptera - anatomy & histology
Ear - anatomy & histology
Electronics - instrumentation
Equipment Design
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hearing Aids
Miniaturization
Pressure
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Rotation
Silicon
Sound
Transduction
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Summary:A miniature differential microphone is described having a low-noise floor. The sensitivity of a differential microphone suffers as the distance between the two pressure sensing locations decreases, resulting in an increase in the input sound pressure-referred noise floor. In the microphone described here, both the diaphragm thermal noise and the electronic noise are minimized by a combination of novel diaphragm design and the use of low-noise optical sensing that has been integrated into the microphone package. The differential microphone diaphragm measures 1 x 2 mm(2) and is fabricated out of polycrystalline silicon. The diaphragm design is based on the coupled directionally sensitive ears of the fly Ormia ochracea. The sound pressure input-referred noise floor of this miniature differential microphone has been measured to be less than 36 dBA.
ISSN:0001-4966
1520-8524
DOI:10.1121/1.3082118